


Until the End

by Hellokaelyn



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Violence, post season 16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 13:45:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19319398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn
Summary: Two days ago a package came for her. Two days ago thanks to her reaction as she dropped it when she saw what was inside it, Nick found out about the one thing she never wanted anyone to know.Something from Ellie's NSA days comes back.





	Until the End

**Author's Note:**

> For the anon on Tumblr. 
> 
> Sorry that 1. the team isn't in this and 2. I skipped right over the action (I'm terrible at writing it)

Trees covered in darkness zoomed by the car window, barely able to be seen in the dark night. There were no streetlights on the deserted road, no signs of other cars, not even a sign on the side of the road.   
  
It was only their car and the lights shining in front.   
  
Ellie had no idea where they were going, she didn't want to ask. There was a small part of her afraid that he would snap at her.  
  
Two days ago a package came for her. Two days ago thanks to her reaction as she dropped it when she saw what was inside it, Nick found out about the one thing she never wanted anyone to know (more so that she was ashamed). There would be no telling McGee, Gibbs, Vance, Jimmy..no one. It was bad enough Nick knew which put his life in danger.   
  
Yesterday Nick said he would protect her. Yesterday she confessed to being terrified. Yesterday she told him she needed to leave, put distance between her and the people who didn't know and could get hurt. Yesterday Nick jumped into action and made a plan, years of being ready to run at any moment kicked in.   
  
Early that morning before the sun was even up, Nick grabbed the things they packed and led her to the car under a false name. They dumped their phones an hour into the drive. Ellie had no idea where they were going, but Nick had been tense and on edge since they left. His eyes shifted between the road, her, and the mirrors making sure they weren't being followed.   
  
All she knew was that they weren't running. They would wait until they came for her, leading them away from their loved ones.   
  
_"It's a suicide mission." Nick's voice was tense and had a dark quality to it. "We're trained, but we don't know how many we'll be up against."_  
  
 _Ellie nodded, closing her eyes. "I know." She felt his hand grip hers tightly._  
  
 _"We make sure to take them with us then if it comes to that."_  
  
 _She opened her eyes looking in his dark gaze. "Together." He nodded. "Together."_  
  
 _'Partners until the end' were the unsaid words that followed._   
  
Ellie swallowed and leaned against the cold window when her stomach twisted. By now the team would have found the note they left warning them to be vigilant and watch each other's backs. Neither she nor Nick wanted to say goodbye, it wasn't a guarantee they'd get out of this alive but there was a chance they would.   
  
She felt Nick's hand reach over and grab hers. Ellie threaded her fingers through his, her gaze still out the window.   
  
Everything came crashing down when she opened that damn package.   
  
_It's time to tie up loose ends_ the note had said. Inside the package was a hand. A hand that belonged to Jared, another NSA analyst she had worked with years ago. Ellie could tell by the scar she had seen many times on his hand as his fingers flew over his keyboard. She had led everyone to believe Parsa was the darkest part of her time at the NSA, but that was a lie.   
  
Ellie and a small group of analyst's were tasked with tracking down and gaining information on a building group named _Finis Venit_ that so far had been known for the torture they inflicted, their favorite being cutting the limbs off..while keeping their victims alive. No one knew _Finis Venit_ had their own technical help, they were good too, too good. Ellie and the other analysts were exposed, found, and taken.   
  
Ellie and Jared were the lucky ones (though for a while it didn't feel like it, being haunted by the things they heard), being picked last to be tortured slowly until they begged for death. They were kept separate only being able to hear the screams echoing through the empty stone halls. It took a long time before she could sleep without hearing it echoing in her head, in fact she had only just stopped taking the medication that had been helping in so many ways not too long before she got pulled into NCIS. It had been a way for her to start fresh.  
  
It had been scrubbed from her file after they failed to catch Franco, the leader of _Finis Venit_. There were only a few people who knew the truth.   
  
She knew it wouldn't be a bad thing for the team to find out..but she wanted so badly for it to stay in the past, but now seeing what was left of Jared..Jared who in a moment of panic and fear she had _begged_ them to take first. It was her greatest shame. What kind of person..what kind of federal agent did that make her? That she begged them to kill someone else first, a death that would be slow and agonizing.  
  
Nick didn't know that part.  
  
How could he even look at her if he knew?  
  
Ellie looked at him from the corner of her eye. He was so strong and always putting others before himself no matter how self centered he tried to seem. A few months ago he had teasingly called her 'big hearted Bishop'..she was afraid to destroy that image of her that he had.   
  
"You doing okay?" He asked softly glancing at her.   
  
"Yeah.." She whispered, trying to swallow the lump in her throat.   
  
It wasn't dying she was afraid of. It was losing his respect.   
  


* * *

  
  
They were both beyond tired when Nick pulled up a hidden road and to a house surrounded by trees.   
  
She followed Nick as he got out of the car and grabbed their bags.   
  
"Who's house is this?" Ellie asked once they stepped inside.  
  
Nick looked behind Ellie instead of answering. She twisted on her heel to look.  
  
"Ziva?!" Ellie gasped. Glancing from Ziva to Nick.  
  
"It is my place." Ziva said, tossing a key at Nick that he easily caught. "Everything is set up."  
  
"Thanks Ziva." He said, jaw clenching. "Thanks doesn't even begin to cover it."  
  
Ziva waved his comment away. "You do anything for family, yes?"  
  
Ellie gaped, eyes practically falling out of her head. "What the hell is going on?!" He sighed, suddenly looking so exhausted. Her face softened. "Go get some rest Nick."   
  
"Ellie-"  
  
"It's okay..I'm not- mad or anything, but you've been up longer than I have and drove all the way here."   
  
"She is right." Ziva said lending a hand. "I will stay for a bit, but you need to be in top shape."   
  
Nick didn't look happy about it but nodded, leaving down the hall.   
  
"He told you."  
  
Ziva nodded. "There are weapons that you will need, and cameras surround the property so you will see when they come."  
  
"Ziva-"  
  
The older woman smiled, placing her hands on Ellie's shoulders. "I once trusted you with my secret, one that you kept. It is now your time to trust me with yours."   
  
"Of course I do!" Ellie said quickly. "It's just-"  
  
Ziva hummed in acknowledgment. "There is something you still have not told Nick."   
  
Swallowing her anxiousness she nodded. "I feel like he should know but.."  
  
"His feelings will not change Ellie." Ziva had a knowing look on her face as she talked. "Nick is not just any man, he is someone who has witnessed and done terrible things. He is someone who is haunted by his own actions, I would bet my life that he would understand the thing that haunts you." Her hand smoothed down Ellie's hair in a motherly gesture. "I know what a man in love looks like, real love does not change so easily."  
  
Ellie felt her eyes water. "And if we die?"  
  
Ziva smiled sadly. "Twist every moment out of it that you can."  
  
"I..I think you mean 'squeeze'." Ellie said weakly.  
  
Ziva chuckled. "Go, Ellie. Do not go in fighting full of what ifs and regret."  
  
 __

* * *

  
  
Ellie watched Nick sleep from the doorway. Ziva had left a while ago. She was staying in the area, and they both had a sort of panic button to press should they need her help. Ellie knew neither of them planned on using it, not when Ziva had Tali and Tony to go back to. Not after she had only got them back not too long ago.   
  
"Are you just gonna stand there and watch me sleep?" Nick mumbled, eyes still closed.   
  
Her cheeks pinkened. "I wasn't-"  
  
"It's okay." He grinned. "I know I'm hot even when I sleep."  
  
Ellie scoffed out a laugh. "Whatever, Nick."  
  
"So, you finally ready to tell me whatever it is that's been eating away at you?" He finally opened his eyes, lifting himself so he was leaning against the wall and pillows.  
  
She bit her lip. Of course he noticed. This was the guy who could tell when she needed a snack from just a look. Ellie got onto the empty side of the bed, facing him with her legs crossed under her.   
  
"I told you about being captured..about being in a separate room with Jared..but I didn't tell you what I did." She told him in a small voice, looking at her lap instead of his face. "They came into the room after we had been listening to Sam and Jamie scream for hours..and I had been terrified, not thinking clearly..I begged for them to take Jared first." A tear slid down her face dropping onto her leg. "Jared looked so betrayed, and the moment the words left my mouth I felt sick and regretted them..I remember them laughing, finding it entertaining that I so willingly offered him up.." Ellie tried her hardest to choke down the sob, but wasn't so successful. "I hated myself for the longest time..still do some days. You called me big hearted Bishop and I wanted to crawl into a hole because it's a lie, you have such a high opinion of me and-"  
  
Nick grabbed her arm, pulling her towards him with so much force that Ellie could only gasp as she crashed against him. His arms held her, and she melted against him, her body shaking.   
  
"We all do things we aren't proud of in moments of fear." He said softly in her ear. "I've done a lot of things I regret, things I hate myself for..but the only thing you can do is learn from them and move on."  
  
"How?" She whispered.   
  
"I'm still trying to figure that one out." Ellie nodded against his chest. At least he was being honest. "One thing I know for sure, I don't think any less of you Ellie. In fact, I think it only makes you better."  
  
Her head snapped up, looking at him with confused but curious eyes. "What?"  
  
His eyes drifted to her lips. "What can I say, all your faults big and small are what caught my attention."  
  
Ellie bit her lip thinking of Ziva's words. "I don't want to go out with regrets and what ifs, Nick."  
  
"Yeah?" Nick said softly. His eyes going from her eyes to her lips. The mood instantly changed. It was something they both wanted for a while and if this would be their last days, at least they got to experience what it was like.  
  
"Yeah." She breathed out with a nod. Ellie shoved down her nerves, moving on top of him to straddle his hips. "Any objections?"  
  
Nick shook his head right before crashing his lips against hers.   
  
Nothing else mattered in that moment but them.

* * *

  
Knowing they had the rest of the day and night at the least, it was an unspoken decision that they'd spend it in bed. Ellie laid half on top of him, every now and then her fingers drifting along his skin. Nick's arm was around her waist, the other thrown behind his head as he watched her.   
  
"Any regrets?" He mumbled.  
  
Ellie rested her chin on him, looking up at him. "Only that we should have done this sooner."  
  
Nick snorted. "Yeah, we were too busy skirting around it and going out with other people like a pair of teenagers instead of just talking."  
  
"Agreed." She laughed a little before turning serious again. "And if we make it out of this and get to go home to a likely angry team?"   
  
"Partners until the end." He mumbled. "In every sense of the word."  
  
Ellie kissed him. 

* * *

  
  
  
It took three days before they came for her.   
  
She didn't think Franco expected her to be prepared with not only Nick at her side but with the weapons provided by Ziva, the cameras that had gave them a heads up, and the extra protection the house provided like the trip wires Nick had activated seconds before they came in.   
  
When it was all over there were bodies scattered about. Some dead like Franco, and some unconscious tied up so they wouldn't be causing anymore trouble.   
  
Ellie and Nick laid in the hall against the wall. They were breathing heavily from their adrenaline crashing and the fighting, blood on them from various wounds or the others, bruises that would develop later on, and pain. But they were smiling at each other even then. _They did it._  
  
Thirty minutes later Ziva would come, angrily ranting about not letting her know, her irritation at them radiating off her in waves as she helped bandage them up and deal with the mess they created..including the bodies.   
  
As Nick stood outside on the phone with a pissed off Vance and Gibbs, volunteering to take the brunt of it, Ziva leaned towards Ellie with a knowing smirk.  
  
"I hope you used protection."  
  
Ellie fell off her chair.   
  
Ziva snorted.   
  
"Oh my little duckling.."  
  
Ellie laid on the floor with a loud groan.   
  
"Do I even wanna know?" Nick said in amusement when he walked back inside.  
  
"No." Ellie mumbled, at the same time Ziva mumbled "You might find out soon."  
  
She scowled at the dark haired woman who only smiled mischievously and drank her coffee.    
  
"Anyways-" Ellie quickly said, clearing her throat. "What are we walking into when we go back?"  
  
Nick flinched, rubbing at his forehead. "Well we're not fired so that's a plus..but we're suspended for at least two weeks without pay, have to talk with either Jack or Grace, have to fill out very lengthy reports on what happened here, and that's not even accounting for all the Gibbs disappointment we're gonna get."   
  
"Could be worse.." Ellie sighed.   
  
"Could be pregnant too." Ziva said under her breath, mouth blocked by her mug so Nick couldn't read her lips. Ellie glared at her hearing what she said, giving Ziva's leg a kick under the table.   
  
Nick groaned, feeling his headache come on. "I'm getting some sleep."  
  
He walked by Ellie, kissing her forehead as he did.   
  
Both of them heard him muttering something about women as he walked away.   
  
Ellie and Ziva shared a look, muffling their laughter not wanting him to hear it. 

* * *

  
  
  
Weeks later Ziva was sitting with Tony on the couch, some movie she wasn't paying attention to playing on the TV when her phone beeped.   
  
"Aw come on!" Tony whined. "The best part is coming up!"  
  
Ziva rolled her eyes. "There is such a thing called a rewind button, Tony."   
  
"It's not the same." He grumbled, but moved his arm from around her to let her reach her phone. "Who is it?"  
  
"Ellie." She told him, swiping at her screen to read the text. Tony perked up now interested, especially when a large smile formed on Ziva's face.  
  
"What is it?!" Impatience and excitement were practically dripping from his words.   
  
Ziva said nothing as she handed him her phone. Tony stared wide eyed at it before he grinned.  
  
Ellie had sent a picture of a positive pregnancy test.   
  



End file.
